Where do I blog

Alright already, I'm getting in under the wire... Kate's party, Where do you blog?

Mr. Lynn's office is where I blog.  He says I have taken it over.  I do spend more time in here lately.

Beware, I didn't move or straighten anything up, I think I am "allowed" to do that about twice a year.

I didn't even move my wine glass out of the picture, Merlot tonight. 

Lot's of guy stuff.  He deserves it - three daughters, me and a female dog for 15 of the 30 years together.

He was a track star (high school and college) when we first started dating.

The room is at the front of the house.  Quiet, but I still feel a part of everything.  The laundry room is around the corner, so I can hear when the dryer turns off.  Is that a perk?

party with the world at
Centsational Girl

Napkins I'm using now

It was time to switch to Fall colors.

I like the iron leaf basket I had to place them.  A perfect match to the leaf pattern on the napkins.

If I bring out orange will the heat go away?

So, I crawled up in the attic to look for fall stuff.  Some fun parties coming up.

This is my attic.

Yes, I just threw the ice chest and suitcases up there, it is in at a  weird angle that I can't reach, geez.

I'm looking for anything orange....

Good insulation huh?

That's what I need the orange tub... when I think I am really organized, I color code my plastic containers by the holiday color.

This piece needs TLC, his head fell off from the heat of the attic, I should use nails not hot glue.  You think I would have learnt that lesson over the last three years.

I can use this metal beauty right away, no jack o lantern eyes, very rustic.

Fitz and Floyd cuties.

This picture is to make you want to come back to see what she is, makes me want to clean the pantry.

So one pretty area down, one orange plastic tub and the rest of the house to go.

It is just a start, I will get there.
K plate - Dillard's
Pumpkin candlesticks - Fitz and Floyd
Tray - Ross
Fleur de lis chopping board - gift
Little night light lamp - Pier One
Coffee cup - daughter brought home from college - super studying sized

 We have two daughters who are teachers and they were sad to see summer time off go away.  I do have to drive through a school zone to get to work making my commute 30 seconds longer.  So, even though this is our first year with NO tuition,  (after 7 years of three girl's in college), I do know school has started, which means..... fall and cooler temps around the corner.

If you got this far into reading this post, you might have noticed that my blog has some movie references.  The first person to locate them all, comment with the movie names will get a fall gift in the mail.  But, not if you have no-reply set for your comment reply emails.  I really don't like those and plus won't know how to contact you for your mailing address.  HINT - they are all on the home page.

Happy Fall Y'all.

Sharing with
Domestically Speaking
A Stroll thru Life
The House in the Roses
This Blessed Nest - Fall Festival

Button fixed....take mine if you please

I did it! I'm a technical genious.

Thanks to a great tutuorial at A Heart For Home and Suzanne at Meridian Road  for the inspiration. 

Whew, another blog hurdle jumped right over!
Have a great weekend, Lori

Button help!

I thought I was being so super technical, copying, gadgeting away, even opened a photobucket account.

So what are the little weird things underneath my button.  See actual button below left, under Button Bling, (will probably change that, what was I thinking)

Isn't she pretty though?  Well pretty blurry if you ask me.  The button actually works much better.

But how do I get rid of these "/ >

BUTTON HELP!

Summer fading, Sunflowers not.

I took these to a neighbor that needed some sunshine!

We all need a little sunshine when life throws us gloomy, cloudy times.

Sunflowers just make me smile.

Sharing with
My Romantic Home

Clearance!!

Found at Ross!

Bless her heart she doesn't even know SHE'S TACKY!

My daughter's and I laugh and now use this phrase and just change the ending.

Bless my heart I don't even know I blog way too much!

Do I hear fireworks.  Love these star glasses.

Are you ready...

16 glasses, tall and short - $7.00

Tray and two packages of napkins - $3.00

ladies you know one pack a napkins is more than that.

 and hours of laughter with daughters - priceless.


sharing with
 Bargain Hunting with Laurie
My Romantic Home
Coastal Charm
A stroll through Life
Between Naps on the Porch
Debbiedoos Garage Salen Partay
Frou Frou Designs

Blog project twins

I was browsing blogs yesterday at Power of Paint with Maryann and surprised at what I came across at Little Blue Prints!  Megan had the same piece of stuff she had also found at GW.  Her's had been hiding out in her closet for some time and in the middle of the night her imagination light went off, (you all know the one).

I noticed the shape of her piece first and then noticed the slit in the backboard at the top.  Same exact original piece as mine. Mine was in the perfect shade of red for my kitchen, not sure what her original color was.  Neither of us knew what it's past life had been, but we both came up with the calendar holder idea.

Here are the twin projects.  I might just need a tray this size one day and of course can re-purpose if I get some midnight imagination going.  

Lori's

Here's Megan's

picture by permission, Little Blue Prints

Megan's link

My Link

Sharing with
Funky Junk Interiors
Debbiedoos
Bargain hunting and chatting with Laurie
Between Naps on the Porch

Napkins I'm using now

These are the napkins I am using today.  All frenchy and love the fleur de lis.  I would be afraid to count how many fleur de lis I have in my house.  They will never go out of style with my Louisiana roots.

Enjoy your week-end! Lori

Update on my Mom

Talked to her yesterday and she got the path report back from her surgeon and she is ALL CLEAR, no more cancer cells in any of the tissue.  Praise and Thanks!  I could feel prayers for her being said and she was a real trooper through it all.  Treatment will probably be a pill a day for about five years.  

Thanks to God and all my wonderful family and friends.

Ooey, Gooey, Toasty Louisiana Crawfish Bread

Finally, it took all summer for all our schedules to clear.  I brought Ooey, gooey crawfish bread to our supper club last Saturday night.

It was a hit and each half loaf made about eight slices.  

Recipe below... I used my huge iron skillet.

1st step the "trinity", if you are from Louisiana you know that is celery, onion and bell pepper.   This was sauteed in BUTTER, flour and veg oil.

Add crawfish and tons of seasoning of course. I bought the crawfish frozen, probably from China, sorry Louisiana, none fresh here this time of year.  Crawfish side note: if you haven't ever seen them harvested, they are not a gulf product.  The rice fields are flooded and they are raised in these man made ponds all across the state.

slice two good sized loaves for french bread in half and top with crawfish mixture, then finish off with a layer of parmesan cheese.

Ooey, gooey goodness!! Heated and ready to serve.  Would be great for a football party.

Dinner was fabulous too, thanks Jane and Rick.

Ready, set, Go oey... here is the list of ingredients
Sounds like a lot of work, but goes really fast and smells so good during the process.

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 stick unsalted butter

stir in skillet until combined

add

The Trinity

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery

all finely chopped

stir in skillet for about 5 minutes

add

1/4 cup white wine (sub more chicken stock if not into the wine thing)

1 cup chicken stock or clam juice (could not find in Texas)

heat and reduce to half

add and constantly stir

1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon dried sweet basil

2 bay leaves (remove later)

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 pounds Louisiana crawfish tails ( I used a little less )

1/2 cup finely diced ripe tomatoes

1 10/75 oz can cream of shrimp soup (again could not find in Texas) used cream of mushroom

1/4 cup minced parsley

1/3 cup sliced green onions

1 teaspoon creole seasoning, ( I used two)

8 oz colby cheese

8 oz monterey jack cheese

Stir all until combined.

Slice at least two loaves of french bread and place on baking tray

load up with ooey, gooey mixture

top with shredded Parmesan cheese

Bake at 350-375 until they begin to toast.

Remove, slice and enjoy.

Lori

sharing with
Menu Monday
Ask Ms Recipe

Gotta love a parent's house

I got to stay at my Mom's house when she was in the hospital, snuck pictures that could only be found at a parent's house.  Does your parent's house have some of these things?

Window sill above sink with some kind of ripening vegetable or fruit, maybe over ripe.

Celebrity side of refrigerator

Pile of knitting materials

How many books can one person read at a time?  Apparently four and 10 magazines.

Jewelry hanging on every hook possible.

slipper pile

Windowsill of grand-children

This one scared me growing up and still scares my grown kids.

Yep, crucifix with wounds and all.

Wouldn't be Mom's house without any of these things.

Old scale, new scale both wrong!

Hopefully this will be a great - Before/After
I was sure if I traded in my 30 year old wedding gift scale for a new digital one, that I would immediately loose 10 pounds at least. 

Hey a girl can dream....

Wedding gift scale, easy to read 30 years ago, eyes and clouded plastic not so great now.

New digital scale.  BBB with 20% off of course.

Gasp .... I gained two pounds just taking it out of the box!

Really need to bump up the exercising!  and eat less.

The name at the top should motivate me as well.

And aren't those cute green scale testing thingys!?

I'll let you know how it goes or maybe not.

Before / After party with Debbiedoo

Few pictures from twins 26th dinner

I put the camera away once the guest arrived.  They are beginning to hate my camera.  

Ooops new wine glass, note to self remove labels before using.

Why the name

Etiquette with Miss Janice asked about why we named our blog what we did and if we would change it.  I wouldn't change mine, still like it. 

If you missed my post about why I chose the name go here... why the name.

How did you come up with yours, do you still like it?

Sharing with My Romantic Home

Mom's journey update

Thanks for all your prayers and wonderful thoughts that came Mom's way.  She is doing well and still in the hosptial.  There was a terrible glitch.  She had to make the decision to have a mastectomy while in the hospital.  A hemotobin filled the area where the biopsy had been taken.  Thick blood pocket.  They could not detect the location of the tumor.  She could wait for the clot to go down, which could take months, or remove the breast.  She prayed and talked about it and made the decision for the surgery. 

She is very brave and I was very proud of her, and I think God sent me there for a reason.  It was great to be there with her.

Heading to the hospital again and then back to Texas.

Lori

My Mom's latest journey

Prayer Warriors needed!

My Mom is having a lumpectomy on Wednesday, August 11th.  I will be traveling to Louisiana and then have updates on Thursday.  She didn't want anyone to travel in, but I will be a surprise when she comes out of recovery.  Of course not if Mom is reading this. (too late, don't call I'm on the plane, I posted this as I was walking out the door.)

She has just started a blog to update stories of her Spain trip with some high school friends.  She has decided to use that site for updates, since the home phones are kind of getting bombarded.  You know, everyone is so interested, but call after call is hard for the receiver.  Not that my Mom would ever not want to talk, but the same story over and again sure must get tiring.  So future updates will be here...

Norenes Nest

Her most current prayer need is to have clean lymph nodes.  That is what she has asked me to pray for.  I normally stay pretty generic on my blog, but I do believe in the power of prayer and I am sure most of you do too.  I'll update my site from time to time, but mainly will update Norene's Nest.  My two sister's will also be updating.  We thought this would work better than Caringbridge since she was already set up and ready to go. Thanks all.... Lori

Suggestions please!

Love our over 100 year old rug, so did the dog.

Sadly Cotton left us in March, it is still hard to talk about.

We still though have the rug and it is in really great shape.  The history I know of it is...

Originally at Northwestern State campus in the President's house.  Gifted to Lynn's Uncle who was Dean of Men.  In his house for long time, no children or pets to wear it out.

Given to Lynn's Mom and she kept it under a bed, no more wear.  Given to us about five years ago.

Things I have used to get rid of the well... smell.

We took it outside and used a rug shampoo machine, not heavy duty.  Let it dry in the 100 degree heat, dried really fast.  Used a spray of diluted water and vinegar.  Used baking soda, rubbed in and vacuumed out.  It is better but still if you get really close.  Yuch.  Not very appetizing under the dining room table.

Suggestions please!  Or is it a lost cause.